Terms and Conditions

Your contract is with FSLC OnTour trading as RU-Adventure

We, RU adventure set out below an explanation of the conditions that apply when you book a tour with us. It is important that you read these conditions as they not only define our obligations to you but also impose some important commitments upon you as the group leader.

Your contract

To make a booking, our booking form must be completed. This must be signed by the first named person on the booking (“the Party Leader”). The Party Leader must be at least 18 years of age and must be authorized to make the booking on the basis of these Booking Conditions by all persons named on the booking. The completed and signed Booking Form must then be sent to us together with the payments referred to below. Once we have received your Booking Form and all appropriate payments, we will, subject to availability, confirm your holiday by issuing a Confirmation of Booking.

A contract will exist when (1) RU Adventure issues a confirmation of booking (2) receives a deposit or full payment for the tour/ holiday/tournament. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by Irish Law, and the jurisdiction of the Irish Courts. If any information given on the confirmation or any other document appears to be incorrect or incomplete you must inform us as it may not be possible to make changes later. We regret that we cannot accept any liability if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document within ten days of our sending it out (or five days for tickets).

Price & Surcharges

At no time is RU Adventure required to provide a breakdown of individual costs of the services being provided for a tour or tournament.RU Adventure reserves the right to apply surcharges if required. These may be imposed to cover increases in, but not limited to, transportation costs, government levies/taxes, and currency fluctuations.

The price of your travel arrangements can be varied due to changes in transportation costs e.g. fuel, scheduled airfares, government action such as increases in VAT or any other government imposed increases or adverse exchange rate variations. In the case of any small variation, an amount equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges, will be absorbed or retained. For larger variations this 2% will still be absorbed for increases but not retained from refunds. If this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 10% of the price of your travel arrangements, you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one (if this is of equivalent or higher quality you will not have to pay more but if it is of lower quality you will be refunded the difference in price), or cancelling and receive a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment charges. We will consider an appropriate refund on insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy. Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on your final invoice. Please note that travel arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and apparent changes have no impact on the price of your travel due to contractual and other protection in place.

Payments; deposits, interim and final payment

RU Adventure have varying payment schedules, in every case when a booking is made by the authorized tour leader a non refundable deposit and payment schedule are agreed and is indicated on the booking form. The balance of the price of your travel arrangements must always be paid at the very latest (10 weeks) before your departure date. If the deposit and/or balance are not paid in time, we reserve the right to cancel your travel arrangements. If the balance is not paid in time, we shall retain your deposit.

If You Change Your Booking

Once a contract exists between us, you may wish to change your travel arrangements. For example, your chosen dates of travel, accommodation etc. and we will do our utmost to make these changes but it may not always be possible. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing from the person possible. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing from the person who made the booking. You will be asked to pay an administration charge of €15 per paying tourist affected and any further cost we may incur in making this alteration. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made and you should therefore contact us as soon as possible.

Name Changes:

Coach Tours:

Following receipt of final numbers forms 8 weeks before departure, any notification of a name change must be accompanied by a payment of a €10/£8 administration charge.

Air Tours European and Worldwide:

We will request name details at the time of securing your flight seats. This is often at an early stage of the booking. Once the airline have received and processed the names, any subsequent amendments or name changes will carry a minimum charge of €15/£12 and any further cost we may incur in making this alteration. This charge will be passed to the group and must be paid for prior to the issue of the amended tickets. Most airlines do not allow name changes after tickets have been issued or in the case of some carriers (Easy Jet or Ryan Air) once names have been received. In this instance the charge is usually the full cost of the flight. If your invoice settlement is overdue at the time of requesting a name change this must be paid in full before the change can be made. For all name changes, where a change of €50 can be made, all costs and charges incurred by us and/or incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers as a result together with the applicable amendment fee as stated above must be paid before the transfer can be effected.

Budget or Low cost airlines

Please be aware that any itinerary price based upon low cost budget airlines, cannot be guaranteed until we have received full payment for each airline ticket together with the names of each traveller.

Important:

For groups travelling by air it is the responsibility of the group leader to ensure that names are exactly as they appear on the passport with no abbreviations. See information on name changes in Section 4.

If You Cancel Your Holiday

You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification from the person who made the booking must be made and the cancellation will be effective from the date it is received at our offices. Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable cancellation charges up to the maximum shown on the table below. It should be noted that any additional deposit paid for confirmation of a holiday addition, flight upgrade, or certain tailor-made packages will be included in the scale of cancellation charges detailed below.

Notes:

(i) If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.

(ii) If one person participating in a twin or triple share arrangement should cancel and no alternative share can be found, whether arranged by us or by you, the remaining participants would then be required to pay the relevant single supplement or forfeit the triple reduction.

If We Change Or Cancel Your Holiday

It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel arrangements, but we do plan the arrangements many months in advance. Occasionally, we may have to make changes and even cancel a confirmed booking and we reserve the right to do so at any time. Most of these changes will be minor, and we will advise you of them at the earliest possible date. Routings and itineraries can be affected by adverse weather, road closures or other reasons and may be varied accordingly. We shall endeavour to advise you of these changes as soon as we are aware of them.

Sporting Fixtures: RU Adventure will arrange the necessary fixtures against teams of a suitable standard. However, as hosting fixtures represents a favour by a non commercial club / institution, RU Adventure, or their Ground handlers cannot be held responsible for adverse conditions causing cancellation of fixtures, or lack of performance on the part of the hosting club or institution.

Please also note, post match hospitality does not necessarily mean food will be provided for the tour group by the host school or club.

Should there be a breakdown in the arrangements for hosting or matches causing a need for alternative last minute adjustments to the tour itinerary, cost for these alternative arrangements if incurred, will be billed as additional costs. We must also draw your attention to that fact that RU Adventure along with our respective ground handlers throughout the world are in constant communication with schools and clubs regarding their ability to field teams of the correct age. Should there be an obvious infringement of the agreed age boundaries which could affect your insurance cover, the RU Adventure manager along with the tour leader will seek a resolution that could possibly affect the playing of the fixture. The final decision will be at the discretion of the tour leader. RU Adventure or their ground handlers cannot be held responsible for any such occurrences. Where billeting with host families is arranged, it is the responsibility of the touring staff to supervise and organize activities should any host family be unable to look after a student at any time during the tour. We must stress that this supervision is not the responsibility of the host family, host school, RU Adventure, or our ground agent.

We go to great lengths to ensure the reliability and success of every sporting fixture we arrange. While we take every possible step to prevent tour fixtures suffering last minute cancellations, in a very small minority of cases, this can happen. Unless a cancelled fixture is the only fixture of a one-fixture tour and has been cancelled for reasons other than force majeure, we cannot be held responsible for this and it will be considered a minor change.

Cancellation of the only fixture on a one-fixture tour for reasons other than force-majeure will be considered a Major change. We also reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your travel arrangements. For example, if the minimum number of clients required for a particular holiday is not reached, we may have to cancel it. We will not cancel your travel arrangements less than 56 days before your departure date, except for reasons of force majeure or failure by you to pay the final balance. If we are unable to provide the booked travel arrangements, you can either have a refund of all monies paid or accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable or superior standard from us if available at no extra cost to you. Alternatively, if you choose to accept a holiday of lower quality, we will refund you the difference in holiday price. If it is necessary to cancel your travel arrangements, we will pay to you compensation as On Tour out in the table on the next page. However, the compensation that we offer does not exclude you from claiming more if you are legally entitled to do so. Please note that carriers such as airlines may be subject to change. Such a change is deemed to be a minor change. Other examples of minor changes include alteration of your outward/return flights by less than 12 hours, changes to aircraft type, change of accommodation to another of the same standard, closing of hotel facilities for improvement or emptying a swimming pool for cleaning if alternative facilities are available nearby. If we make a major change to your holiday, we will inform you as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure. You will have the choice of either accepting the change of arrangements, accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements which shall be of equal or superior quality from us if available or cancelling your booked holiday and receiving a full refund of all monies paid plus compensation. In all cases, except where the major change arises due to reasons of force majeure, we will also pay compensation as detailed in the table on the next page. Major Change – This means that there has been a significant change of resort, a change of accommodation to that of a lower category, a change of flight time of more than 12 hours, changes to routings or itineraries, the cancellation of just one fixture (for reasons other than force majeure) where the booked tour itinerary includes just one fixture, a change to destination airport and a change of departure airport. Please note that these are examples only and there may be other changes which are considered major.

Force majeure – This means that we will not pay you compensation if we have to cancel or change your travel arrangements in any way due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised which includes: war, threat of war, riots, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial disputes, natural or nuclear disasters, fire, adverse weather conditions, epidemics, health risks, unavoidable technical problems with transport, closed or congested airports. Very rarely, we may be forced by “force majeure” to change or terminate your booking after departure but before the scheduled end of your time away. This is extremely unlikely but if this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any refunds from our suppliers), pay you any compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.

If your flight is cancelled or delayed, your flight ticket is downgraded or boarding is denied by your airline in circumstances which would entitle you to claim compensation against the airline under EC Regulation No 261/2004 – the Denied Boarding Regulations 2004, you must pursue the airline for the compensation due to you. All sums you receive or are entitled to receive from the airline concerned by virtue of these regulations represent the full amount of your entitlement to compensation or any other payment arising from such cancellation, delay, downgrading or denied boarding. This includes any disappointment, distress, inconvenience or effect on any other arrangements. The fact a delay may entitle you to cancel your flight does not automatically entitle you to cancel any other arrangements even where those arrangements have been made in conjunction with your flight. We have no liability to make any payment to you in relation to the Denied Boarding Regulations or in respect of any flight cancellation or delay, downgrading of any flight ticket or denial of any boarding as the full amount of your entitlement to any compensation or other payment (as dealt with above) is covered by the airline’s obligations under the Denied Boarding Regulations. If, for any reason, you do not claim against the airline and make a claim for compensation from us, you must, at the time of payment of any compensation to you, make a complete assignment to us of the rights you have against the airline in relation to the claim that gives rise to that compensation payment.

IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT

If you have a problem or cause for dissatisfaction, please immediately inform the relevant supplier, for example the hotel, the cruise line, the transportation company and our tour manager or local representative. This allows us the opportunity to put things right on the spot. If you remain dissatisfied you must contact our Republic of Ireland office in order that we are allowed the opportunity to find a reasonable solution. It is strongly recommended that you communicate any problem to the supplier of the services in question AND to our representative WHILST IN THE RESORT and you must confirm your complaint in writing. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please follow this up within 28 days of your return home by writing to the Managing Director giving your booking reference and all other relevant information, keeping your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you.

If you fail to follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint and this may affect your rights under this contract.

What Happens To Complaints

We are proud of our strong reputation for customer satisfaction and strive to reach amicable settlement of the very small number of complaints we receive. It is unlikely that you will have a complaint that cannot be settled amicably between us. However, disputes to do with this contract that cannot be settled amicably may, if you wish, be referred to arbitration arranged by the Irish branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Liability

The organizer shall not be liable for any damage caused to the consumer by the failure to perform the contract or the improper performance of the contract where the failure or the improper performance is due neither to any fault of the organizer or retailer acting on the organizer’s behalf nor to that of another supplier of services because:

(a) The failures which occur in the performance of the contract are attributes to the consumer

(b) Such failures are attributable to a third party unconnected with the provision of the services contracted for, and are unforeseeable or unavoidable; or

(c) Such failures are due to (i) unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond the control of the organizer, the retailer acting on his behalf or other supplier of services, the consequences of which could not have been avoided, even if all due care had been exercised; or (ii) an event which the organizer, the retailer acting on his behalf or the supplier of the services, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall.

In the case of damage other than death or personal injury or damage caused by defamation or by wilful misconduct or gross negligence of the organizer the amount of compensation which will be paid to the consumer will be limited to, in the case of an adult an amount equal to double the inclusive price of the holiday to the adult concerned and in the case of a minor an amount equal to the inclusive price of the holiday to the minor concerned. The organizer’s liability will not exceed any limitation applicable under any international convention governing or relating to the provision of the service complaint of in the place where they are performed or due to be performed, even if that convention has not been ratified or applied in the Republic of Ireland. For international transport by air the provisions of the Warsaw convention 1929 (as amended) relating to the carriage of passengers and their luggage by air or the EU regulation on air carrier liability for travel by air, may apply, throughout the flight and during boarding and disembarkation. For international transport by water the provisions of the Athens convention relating to the carriage of passengers and their luggage by sea, 1974 applies. Pursuant to these conventions and the regulation, the organizer’s liability is limited or excluded for death, personal injury, loss of or damage to luggage, and special provision is made for valuables.

Your Responsibilities – Visas & Passports

(i) Your specific passport and visa requirements, and other immigration requirements are your responsibility and you should confirm these with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements.

(ii) You must be responsible for ensuring that any existing medical conditions or disabilities which may require assistance are declared to us before you book your holiday or, if newly diagnosed, before date of departure. We can only accept your booking upon the clear understanding that we cannot be liable if you do not inform us of such a condition and an airline refuses to accept you or any member of your party as a passenger. BEHAVIOUR & CONDUCT (iii) When you book with us, you accept full responsibility for any damage or loss caused by you or any member of your group. A solution for any payment for any such damage or loss must be made directly with the accommodation owner or manager or other supplier before your group depart the Accommodation. – Even if our supplier or we are withholding a cautionary damage deposit on your behalf. Damage deposits paid direct to RU Adventure will be refunded within 21 days of the end of the tour. If you fail to pay or refuse to pay our supplier, you will be responsible for meeting any claims subsequently made against us (together with our own and the other party’s full legal costs) as a result of your or any member of your group’s actions.

ADULT/UNIVERSITY GROUPS PLEASE NOTE

If in our reasonable opinion or in the reasonable opinion of any other person in authority, you or any member of your group behaves in such a way as to cause or be likely to cause danger, or distress to any third party or damage to property or vehicles, we are entitled, without prior notice, to terminate the arrangements of the person(s) concerned or terminate the arrangements as a whole. In this situation, the person(s) concerned will be required to leave the accommodation or other service. We will have no further responsibility toward such person(s) including any return travel arrangements. No refunds will be made and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the termination. You are also responsible for ensuring that the group reaches the starting point of the tour at the correct time. Please note that in many countries it is illegal to consume alcohol on coaches. Tourists are advised to exercise caution and care when under the influence of alcohol and should note that if injured as a result of their intoxicated condition, their insurance may be invalid.

SCHOOL GROUPS PLEASE NOTE

We reserve the right to exclude any person before or after holiday commencement if important personal details have not been fully declared and/or his/her behaviour is incompatible with the general enjoyment and wellbeing of others. Collection would be entirely at the responsibility and expense of the person acting in ‘loco parentis’ to whom any costs for damage and other expenses incurred would also be charged. Behaviour deemed inappropriate may include: Under age buying and consumption of alcohol Suspected involvement with illegal drugs Smoking outside of designated areas and smoking by under 16s. Theft or illegal activities Threatening behaviour, bullying, offensive or insulting language to other guests, RU Adventure staff or any other person.

Please ensure all of your tourists have a valid passport and an E111/European Health Card before travelling.

Insurance

You must be suitably insured either through us or with another insurer offering at least equivalent cover. Unless already included in the specified tour package, we will add the cost of our insurance to your invoice unless you indicate you have your own insurance and provide details of your insurer on your booking form. Should you while on holiday choose to take part in any activity (e.g. hang gliding, hot air ballooning, white-water rafting, etc.) which can be deemed as being of a hazardous nature, it is essential to ensure that extra cover is provided under the terms of your travel insurance. Tour managers and local representatives are instructed not to act as agents in booking any alternative activities other than those approved by us. Any assistance they may offer at your request does not imply they have acted as an agent or that these activities have been approved and are offered for sale by RU Adventure

Data Protection Act

In order to process your booking and to ensure that your travel arrangements run smoothly and meet your requirements, we need to use the information you provide such as name, address, any special needs/dietary requirements etc. We take full responsibility for ensuring that proper security measures are in place to protect your information. However, we must pass the information on to the relevant suppliers of your arrangements such as airlines, hotels, transport companies, etc. The information may also be provided to public authorities such as cruise lines for customs/immigration purposes if required by them, or as required by law. Additionally, where your holiday is outside the European Economic Area (EEA), controls on data protection may not be as strong as the legal requirements in this country. We will not, however, pass any information on to any person not responsible for part of your travel arrangements. This applies to any sensitive information that you give us such as details of disabilities, or dietary/religious requirements. If we cannot pass this information to the relevant suppliers, whether in the EEA or not, we cannot process your booking. In making your booking, you consent to this information being passed on to the relevant persons.

Special Requests/Conditions

Special requests must be clearly detailed on your booking form. Whilst we will make every effort to fulfil these requests we regret we cannot guarantee they will be met unless we have specifically confirmed this. For your own protection, you should obtain confirmation in writing from us that your request will be complied with (where it is possible for us to give this) if your request is important to you. Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the supplier or the inclusion of the special request on your confirmation invoice or any other documentation is not confirmation that the request will be met. Unless and until specifically confirmed, all special requests are subject to availability. We regret we cannot accept any conditional bookings, i.e. any booking which is specified to be conditional on the fulfilment of a particular request. All such bookings will be treated as “standard” bookings subject to the above provisions on special requests. If you or any member of your party has any medical problem or disability which may affect your holiday, please tell us before you confirm your booking so that we can advise as to the suitability of the chosen arrangements. In any event, you must give us full details in writing at the time of booking. If we reasonably feel unable to properly accommodate the particular needs of the person concerned, we must reserve the right to decline their reservation or, if full details are not given at the time of booking, cancel when we become aware of these details.

Tours By Air

Any flight timings given on booking are for general guidance only and are subject to change. The latest timings will be shown on your Booking Confirmation Invoice. However, the actual flight times will be those shown on your tickets which will be dispatched to you approximately two weeks before departure. You must accordingly check your tickets very carefully immediately on receipt to ensure you have the correct flight times. It is possible that flight times may be changed even after tickets have been dispatched – we will contact you as soon as possible if this occurs. We are not always in a position to confirm the airline, aircraft type and airport of destination which will be used in connection with any flight included in your arrangements. When this information is provided at the time of booking or subsequently, it is subject to change. Any such change will not entitle you to cancel or change to other arrangements without paying our normal charges.

Period before departure within which notice of cancellation or major change is received by us or notified by you. If WE make a major change to your holiday If WE cancel your holiday, the amount you will receive from us: If YOU cancel your holiday,

amount of the cancellation charge:

From date of deposit received € 0 Deposit only 50 % of the total cost of the holiday
16 weeks €3 100% of holiday cost + €3 60% of holiday cost
12 weeks €4 100% of holiday cost + €4 80% of holiday cost
8 weeks €6 100% of holiday cost + €6 90% of holiday cost
4 weeks or less €8 100% of holiday cost + €8 100% of holiday cost
* Certain tailor-made tours may incur a 100% cost cancellation charge if cancelled within 12 weeks of date of departure.
All contracts between RU Adventure and it’s clients are made on the terms of the above booking conditions which are governed by Irish Law and both parties shall submit to the jurisdiction of Irish Courts